Cockroaches Close Last Stop Cafe

By Howard Schwach

The agency’s sign on the window directed diners to go elsewhere for their breakfast on Monday morning. Despite the fact that the Last Stop Gourmet Shop, adjacent to the Rockaway Park A Line subway station, has an A grade posted on its front window, the local eatery has been closed by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Locals looking for breakfast on Monday morning instead found the doors of the restaurant, located at 222 Beach 116 Street, locked and a sign on the window that reported the restaurant had been closed by the city agency.

A quick check of the agency’s website shows that Last Stop received an A grade after its last regular inspection in September of 2011.

The restaurant received 12 violation points at that time, primarily because “Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated or not discarded in accordance with [cleanliness] plan.”

Right photo: The Last Stop Gourmet Shop on Beach 116 Street was closed earlier this week by the Department of Health. On January 24 of this year, however, the restaurant was again inspected and was ungraded because it had 42 points of violation, including evidence of cockroaches.

According to health department sources, the A grade sign should have been replaced with an “Ungraded” sign, but was not.

On Tuesday, a health department spokesperson told The Wave, “The health department cited the Last Stop Gourmet Shop with roaches on January 14, 2012. By the time of the re-inspection visit [this week], the problem had grown worse and the restaurant was shut down.”

The restaurant will remain closed, the source said, until the problem is remediated and a successful inspection is completed.